Udo’s first enemy is always his own officers.
Old-time readers (“My MOM used to read you!”) are coming up and pointing out who’s who in the books. The major in issue one who is trying to get his unit ready for inspection is Lex Nakashima, one of my first publishers/editors. The guy in this issue with a newspaper, pointing at the water in the background, is Hans Meier.
Speaking of officers, on the beach walk last night, crossing the Clallam Bay River on the little bridge, Nearest rememvered how his AC (aircraft commander) was starting to sing “Wide River,” and had his life threatened by his whole crew. It’s an old basic-training song, sung ironically by troops in Vietnam. Nearest said they reminded him they could have come back, reported an ambush and nobody would have asked what happened to him.
We were goofy enough, laughing over that, but — after crossing the bridge into Clallam Bay, we went to the bar for a Mac&Jac and a Pabst (for my gippy stomach) and got whipped back to the ’70’s when somebody put Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On” and the Eagles’ “Hotel California” on the juke box (are they CALLED juke boxes any more?). Talk about flashbacks!
Goethe said that anybody who lived 80 years would see it all come around again. I’m not EIGHTY yet!
